HORSE RETURNED AFTER CAR RIDE

Little Bit, the pregnant 4-year-old miniature horse that police found inside a car, is back home, enjoying carrots and open space.

"I know she's happy to be home. She was over there whinneying and running around," said Julie McDonald of Davie, who owns a petting zoo. McDonald, her 2-year-old granddaughter, Samantha, and Little Bit were reunited on Tuesday.

The miniature horse that weighed about 275 pounds apparently had been stolen from a pasture near University Drive and Stirling Road where McDonald keeps some of her animals.

Cooper City police found the horse early Monday morning in the back of a car, Sgt. Jerry Ward said. Officer Sonny Morgan stopped the car on Stirling Road because a headlight was out, police said. In the rear of the car, where the seat had been removed, was a horse.

The horse's back was arched against the headliner and her head was bent between her front legs, Ward said. "It was really cramped in," Ward said. Morgan confiscated the horse and gave the two Dade County men in the vehicle a notice to appear in court on a charge of cruelty to animals. Morgan also was suspicious of the men's explanation that they had spotted the horse in the area, thought it belonged to their friend and were returning it. The men were identified as Jorge Martinez, 28, and Eladio Diaz, 35.

On Tuesday, Julie McDonald's daughter identified the horse at the Cooper City Police Department and brought it back to McDonald's farm in Davie. McDonald hadn't realized Little Bit was stolen because the horse had been in a 10-acre pasture with other animals. McDonald saw the horse that police had consficated on television, and knew it was hers.

"I'm very pleased with the police. I think they did a very good job," McDonald said. The horse, which is part of the McDonald's petting zoo, is also a family pet. She belongs to McDonald and Samantha.